Origin

John Clayton was stranded with his parents, the Lord and Lady Greystoke, on the West coast of Africa. Being forced to fend for themselves, his parents soon died while John was only an infant. He was then taken in and raised by a group of great apes. One in particular took on the parental role, she was known as Kala. John was named Tarzan which means "White Skin".

Tarzan will teach himself to read and write the English language from reader books of his dead parents.

He will also learn to speak several languages but only after he is an adult and from the explorers who come to the jungle.

As an adult Tarzan happened upon a group of human explorers, among them Jane Porter, with whom he developed a romantic attraction. In time John would marry Jane and they would have a son whom they named Jack.

Creation

Tarzan is a literary creation of Edgar Rice Burroughs. He is the author's most recognizable character (another being John Carter) having appeared in many comics and movies.

Character Evolution and Major Story Arcs

Tarzan's first appearance in comics predates that of the first superheroes by a few years, and his appearance was in line with an era when adventurers were portrayed in comics more so than any other genre.

As comics moved away from this format he has nonetheless maintained some appeal over his many years of publication, but has struggled to maintain any long term success. Generally speaking story arcs around the character do not differ much from his basis in literature.

Abilities

Because of his upbringing in the jungle, Tarzan has strength, speed, endurance, and agility far beyond normal men, and can match the strength/agility of apes and lions.

Tarzan can brachiate from tree branches and vines as easily as any ape, and also has a high tolerance to pain, never flinching when shot twice as well as having his scalp ripped off in battle. His senses are likewise increased, to the point of being able to track animals by smell as well being able to hear a blade of grass move in the middle of the African jungle.

He has also shown a quick aptitude to learn, as a boy using his knife proficiently enough to kill a full grown bull ape in battle with it, upon just acquiring it. Tarzan also taught himself to use a bow and arrow in just a month, and became proficient with a spear in a short time.

Aside from his physical abilities, he has shown a great aptitude for learning, teaching himself how to read English from a set of reader books found in his cabin; then learning several human languages including French, English, some Arabian, and the language of the Waziri. Additionally, he can communicate with some animals, including the language of the Mangani and some elephant language.

Thanks, we're checking your submission.

Whoah, whoah... slow down there.

Thanks! Your changes are live!

Some of your changes are live

Because you're new to wiki editing, we sent your
submission off to our moderators to check it over. Most
changes are approved within a few hours. We'll send an
email when it is.

Once you've earned over points you'll be able
to bypass this step and make live edits to our system.
Until then, gain points by continuing to edit pages.

No changes were submitted, nothing was done! Please make changes to the wiki!

Thanks for continuing to improve the site. Some of your changes are
now live. However, some of your changes were sent to moderation because you do not
have enough points to make those live edits. You need points to
live edit the changes you commited.

For the changes that went through, our robot math gave you points for this
submission.

Thanks for continuing to improve the site. Your changes are
now live. Our robot math gave you points for this
submission.